Saturday, February 21, 2009

Seven buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Site of origin of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Address: Dekoven and Jefferson Street
In 1961, a bronze sculpture of stylized flames entitled "Pillar of Fire" was erected at the point of origin of Chicago fire.
Sculptor: Egon Weiner ..
At the base of the sculpture "Pillar of Fire" is written:
Here began the Chicago Fire of 1871..
The site was designated a Chicago Landmark on September 15, 1971..
Since 1956, Chicago Fire Academy, a training facility for Chicago firefighters has been located here..

The plaque reads ..
Chicago Landmark ..
Site of the origin of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 ..The great Chicago fire began October 8, 1871, in the O'Leary barn on DeKoven Street. Fanned by a strong wind, in a city largely built of wood structures, the blaze raged for nearly 30 hours. Flames spread so far as Fullerton Avenue, before finally dying out in the early morning rain, October 10. Almost everything in the path of the fire had been destroyed.
Designated a Chicago Landmark on September 15, 1971
by the City Council of Chicago
Richard J. Daley, Mayor
Commission on Chicago Historical and Architectural Landmarks

One can walk into the hall of the Chicago Fire Academy and see the site of Mrs O'Leary's Home, which is marked with a plaque..
The plaque reads ..
Mrs. O'Leary's Home..On this site stood home and barn of Mrs. O'Leary where the Chicago fire of 1871 started. Although there are many versions of the story of its origin, the real cause of the fire has never been determined.
Erected by Chicago's Charter Jubilee
Authenticated by Chicago Historical Society 1937...

Since 1956, Chicago Fire Academy, a training facility for Chicago firefighters has been located at the site of the origin of the Great Chicago fire..

The Great Chicago Fire [Oct 8- 10, 1871]..
The Fire started around 9 o'clock on Sunday evening, October 8, 1871; and continued till Tuesday morning, Oct 10, when some much-needed rain helped to stop the blaze. The Fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed over 17,000 structures, and left 100,000 people homeless..

I've read at many places that a few buildings survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, most famous being the Old Water Tower at Magnificent Mile. But, I coudnt find the names of all the buildings that survived the fire together at-one-place anywhere. However, in my googling endeavours, I did find these names scattered over at different websites. So here I'm putting them all together..
All the seven buildings that survived the fire..

2121 N Hudson building..
REF: Chicago Landmarks: Mid-North District click here... "Several pre-Fire of 1871 wooden Worker's Cottages still survive in the district"..
However, the official site on Chicago Landmarks, did not specify the name of the buildings. So I had to search on wikipedia ...
REF: Chicago/Lincoln Park-Old Town - Historic Districts..click here..

Hi Mo,St. Ignatius pre-dates the Fire of 1871..It can be called a survivor only when it is in the line of fire ..There are a few buildings that pre-dates the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.. But they cannot be called "survivors" of the fire..unless they were in the line of fire..

St Ignatius College Prep. (formerly: St. Ignatius College in 1871)and the Holy Family Church next door are at 1076 W. Roosevelt Rd. The fire started at O'Leary's barn just east a few blocks from there and maybe one block north. The prevailing direction of the spread of the fire due to wind was north and east but the school was in the line of fire as is spread also westward. The fire was so huge that it created its own wind. Father Damen, S.J., who built the school, lit a candle with a prayer that the school and church would survive. That flame still glows in the church. Jyoti...If you were you there on the day of the fire feeling the heat of if in front of the school as it came toward you you might think differently about its "survival".

Just wanted to add that I think the real estate listing I linked to must be wrong about the date the house at 2343 N Cleveland was built. After all, it's a "twin" to the house nextdoor, and the listing for that house says it was built in 1866. It seems unlikely that twin houses would have been built 20 years apart. I think it's a typo (they put 1886, when they meant to put 1866).

As to St. Ignatius, I think Bill '69 makes a very good argument for including it as a Great Fire survivor.

My GGG Grandparents lived on Church/Hudson during the fire and these pictures are extremely interesting to me and my family. Thanks for posting as well as including the pictures of St Michaels where they attended services.

Thanks a lot! I'm doing a paper on the Great Chicago Fire and this is the first website that I've seen that tells about a memorial plaque and about the property the O'Leary's donated to the fire department. (Also a cool fact is if you look down the O'Leary line, you'll see that every O'Leary male has been in the fire department to this day!)

Thanks so much. I lived at 2121 N. Hudson as a child, and it was very nice to see the photos. My mom actually did much of the work restoring the building. Thanks to all those little people doing historical renovation.

I am looking for info as to fate of 1242, 1244, 1246 Michigan Avenue. These were probably within ten blocks of Terrace Row, which burned. I assume these burned also. Where can I find confirmation of the fate of these residences?

after reviewing everything on your web site and as a us government contractor , theres some things that needs to be pointed out , did you all check and I mean you all check if the bankers of new York burn this city down and anoth city at the same day ? because of the stock market control and land grab by the most powerful of new York ? guess who ? yes him ! is you check to see property records that the properties were bought up by a major banking firm . also the dates and times of such events that countered ritual freemason objectives . research all the dates associated with the key numbers of events . areas of interest and times of events and sacrificial related aspects etc. also whos stocks went up and who made monies associated with rebuilding city by buying up stocks is various companies material companies days before the city ies burnt down . reason ? plain and simple ,..... Chicago was to have the nyse there as key exchange in Chicago , not new York . another city was going to invest into this city . they also burned down ? theres info that will lead to the real burners of this city and they are as powerful as the ones who perished on the titanic for going against a federal reserved controlling non gov controlling corporation that is controlled by them . yes them . understand ? well at least they got their first skyscraper buildings right ? so ? check it out and report to us . but who really cares ? bla,me someone else that finally got cleared in 1997 ? give me a break , good work ,... j.p.m. good work ! you sure paid everyone off ? didn't you ? we just hope your soul was responsible for all those poor souls that perished during those 3 days ? tell me ? how hot is it down ther j.p.m. ? I ll send you a glass of water shortly . shalom ! emet in Hebrew equals truth . my g.g.grand father told me everything and theres proof !

ohh by the way j.p.m. my g.g.grandfather was your attorney that handled all your affairs ! copies are still around flyboy ! watch you turn over in your grave j.p.m. you sure bought out Carnegie to shut him up ? bought everyone and bought up stock to also shut them up financialy ? the real reason you ripped off Westinghouse,tesla,edison,rockefeller and others is that there was no legislation nor laws to pre-prevent your so called crazy objectives of control . but guess what j.p.m. someone will go back and stop you and take everything away from you and give it to the masses . heard of dml technology ? its classified under cosmic . but its just higher than that classification . beyond the black aned grey projects . tell mr. Reynolds what we indicated . thank you .

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All the images in this blog and my other blogs, have been produced by me. See and enjoy the images. But please do not use or reproduce any of these images without written permission.
Contact at: jyoti[at]lensimpressions[dot]net